The present invention relates in general to an improved jumper cable construction and is concerned, more particularly, with jumper cables that are safe to use. The purpose of this invention is to prevent sparking at the battery terminals where the jumper cables are connected and disconnected.
Many people use jumper cables usually in an emergency situation to start a vehicle having a dead battery by jumpering the cables to another vehicle having a charged battery. The typical cables include two lengths of heavy battery cable with clamps at the ends of both lengths of cable. There is a danger in the connecting of a charged automobile battery to a relatively discharged battery. The sparking associated with the connecting and disconnecting of the cables can, and often does, ignite the escaping hydrogen at the batteries causing an explosion. This explosion may result in the death of a person and in many cases causes severe injuries such as acid and flash burns and possible blindness.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide improved jumper cables that are safe to use and that are constructed to eliminate any sparking problems usually associated with the connecting and disconnecting of the cable clamps at the battery terminals. In accordance with this general object of the invention there is described hereinafter a number of different embodiments of the invention all of which prevent the sparking at the battery terminals.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a more sophisticated jumper cable system including improved cable clamps which operate to prevent sparking at connection and disconnection.
Still a further object of the present invention is to provide an improved jumper cable system which detects whether the cables are connected properly with regard to polarity at the battery terminals.